1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wireless programmable digital thermostat system and, more particularly, pertains to a thermostat system configured for remote programming pursuant to one of several programming modes of varying complexity.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,348,078 to Duschane et al. discloses remotely controlling air conditioning, heating and a fan in different rooms via a master controller with a display screen and a control pad. The disclosed dwelling heating and air conditioning system includes a timer and may be set to turn on in a particular room at a selected time.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,714 to Otsuka et al. discloses a system for controlling temperatures in multiple rooms ("zone system") and includes set back and manual override features. The disclosed air conditioning apparatus includes a room controller facilitating user selection between stop, scheduled air-conditioning and manual air-conditioning operating modes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,886,110 to Jackson discloses a heating, venting, air conditioning (HVAC) system in which a microprocessor controls the number of stages of heating or cooling which are energized in dependence on the difference between the number of zone thermostats calling for heating and the number calling for cooling.
However, the art is still devoid of a thermostat system including multiple transmitter units and at least one receiver/controller unit with each of the transmitter units being adapted to receive programming inputs from users and to generate and transmit input signals over a wireless medium and the receiver unit being adapted to receive the input signals and to generate control signals in response to the input signals from only one of the transmitter units. Furthermore, no known thermostat system includes a receiver/controller unit which receives and processes such input signals and which is adapted to be programmable in response to the input signals according to a plurality of programming modes of varying complexity. Thus, an object of the present invention is to provide a wireless programmable digital thermostat system embodying these features.